Rory McIlroy wants Brooks Koepka to make a swift return to the PGA Tour, but he’s been warned why that might be a bad idea…
They say time is the greatest healer, but just how much of it does Brooks Koepka need to serve before he’s allowed to waltz back on to the PGA Tour?
That’s been the rife topic of debate ever since the five-time major champion stunned the game by walking out on his LIV Golf contract last month.
Koepka’s return to competitive golf is still a fascinating unknown after his team announced an “amicable” split with LIV a year before his reported nine-figure deal ended with the league.
Whether the American chooses to spend 2026 on the DP World Tour – which he is free to do so on sponsor’s invites or indeed by reapplying as a member – remains to be seen. But the circumstances around a return to the PGA Tour is of far more uncertainty and intrigue.
The consensus seems to be that Koepka is banned from the PGA Tour for 12 months after his last LIV start, which was last August. However, that’s not entirely accurate.
Former LIV players who never owned a PGA Tour card are subject to that particular suspension, but Koepka’s situation is complicated by the fact that he was of course once a member. The same one-year ban does not necessarily apply to him.
That’s led to the suggestion that Ponte Vedra could find a loophole in their rulebook and score a win over their rival circuit by bringing Koepka back into the fold at the first possible opportunity.
Indeed, that’s what Koepka’s fellow five-time major winner Rory McIlroy wants to happen.
On a recent appearance on the Stick to Football podcast, McIlroy said the supposed “punishment” of LIV players wishing to return to their former domain has already been served in reputational damage.
“I think they’ve already paid their consequence,” he said. “They’ve made the money but they’ve paid their consequence in terms of the reputation and some of the things they’ve lost by going over there.”
Speaking to the Palm Beach Post this month, McIlroy added: “Does it make sense if Brooks wanted to play the PGA Tour again to get him back as soon as possible? Absolutely. What Brooks has done in the game of golf, it would be good for everyone to have him back.”
Brandel Chamblee, a staunch opponent of LIV, accepts McIlroy’s view that adding Koepka’s star power will eventually provide a boost to the PGA Tour during the ongoing divide.
But the former pro turned Golf Channel analyst also warned why Koepka must serve a penalty first.
“I think [McIlroy] is a well-informed and a very smart guy,” Chamblee said on The Favorite Chamblee podcast.
“I would just say that institutions that forget about the cost of disruption invite repetition, and so for that reason I think the PGA Tour needs to be careful about setting a precedent here.
“To allow Brooks to come back with no consequence would undermine the meritocratic foundations that are the one thing that makes the PGA Tour legitimate. It’s not about retributions. It’s about setting a precedent.
“Institutions protect themselves by having rules that apply even to elite players – especially to elite players. The PGA Tour is not just a showcase for great talent. It’s an institution, and they function only if commitment has meaning, contracts have meaning, defection has consequences, and loyalty is not optional for elite players.
“To allow Brooks to come back with no consequence would undermine the meritocratic foundations that are the one thing that makes the PGA Tour legitimate. It’s not about retributions. It’s about setting a precedent.
“If they allow Brooks to come back after leaving and causing or contributing to the disruption of the game and normalising defection to LIV, the message will be clear that the rules only apply to the expendable and not to the exceptional. I think that’s corrosive.”
Chamblee insists that the former world No.1 is among the cohort of players who “hurt the ecosystem of the game” by jumping ship to LIV back in 2022.
“So I couldn’t disagree more with what Rory said,” he added. “I couldn’t disagree more with those who think that Brooks should be able to come back without some consequence.
“It’s great if he does want to come back. I think that’s good. It’s the best legitimate tour in the world. But he was a key legitimiser of LIV. He wasn’t just an innocent bystander.”